"C'mon, kid! Let's go!"
Silas picked up his pace a bit at the call. Raven didn't seem to be in the best of moods, and he wasn't sure he'd wanted to test her. Even now, a couple of weeks after their sparring match, he was sure that he'd gotten lucky against her.
He was sure that if he kept not just her, but the rest of the Birds waiting, he'd be proven right about that.
He moved just above a brisk walk, hands deep in his coat pockets as he moved. Gotham was starting to experience the first signs of winter settling in, and the cold air washing over the city felt as though he could feel it in his bones.
'What the hell? Why am I so stiff?! God, I want out of this so bad.'
He approached the moving truck that the three women awaited him in, thankful that the vehicle was sitting idle, rather than completely off.
'Means I can get warm in a hurry.'
SIlas reached for the door handle, not seeing that the passenger seat he'd wanted was occupied. He was too worried about getting out of the cold to see the hand that came down to swat at his. The cold air made the slap of skin-on-skin sting more than usual, causing him to yelp in pain. He looked up at the door window, seeing Lark grinning down at him.
"Uh-uh," she said, wagging a finger at him, "Seat's taken. So's the one in the back of the cab."
"What the hell?" Silas asked, irritated, "Where the hell am I supposed to sit, then?"
Jay peeked over Lark's shoulder, giving herself away as the one sitting in the cab's back seat. "Well, there's plenty of space in the back."
Silas' eyes went wide as he looked at the back of the truck. "Oh, hell no! I'm fucking freezing out here! No way in hell am I going into a screaming metal death box and freeze my ass off in there!"
"Relax, Silas," Jay said, "There's a folding bench in there with a seatbelt. You're not gonna be bouncing around back there or anything. It's also got a heater on the inside, so you'll be fine."
"It's still the back of a truck!" Silas said.
"Hey!" Raven called out from the driver's side, "We need to get moving! Either quit crying and get in the back, or we're leaving you here! Move it!"
Hearing Raven's impatience once again, Silas took a brief second to think. He growled lowly, then glared up at Lark and Jay.
"I'm up front on the way back."
Nearly half an hour…
'...and one sore ass…'
…later, the truck pulled into its destination: an unused warehouse in the middle of Gotham's industrial sector. Silas growled in a mix of pain and relief. He stood up, stretching out as he did. He put a hand to the small of his back, rubbing some of the agony away.
'Would'a been nice if Jay mentioned that the bench was just a piece of hard-ass plastic. At least she was right about the heater.'
He started walking to the truck's rolling door, wondering what exactly the job he and the Birds were tasked with. Ever since he first accepted the Penguin's offer to join his below-board crew, his duties hadn't changed too much. There was the first man he'd helped to "interrogate," but then not much more than usual.
He reached down, intending to unhook the latch that would let him, and the warm air of the truck, out. Before he could, though, the door quickly slid up.
"Come on, kid," Raven said as the door revealed her on the other side, "We've got a job to do."
"Speaking of which," Silas said as he hopped down, "What is the job, anyway? Mr. Cobblepot wasn't exactly generous with the details."
"Simple transaction," Lark said, rounding the corner, "We're making a payment to our contact. He'll then give us the merchandise we're supposed to pick up. Basic stuff, really."
"And, lemme guess, I'm here to learn how these things are supposed to go?"
"There's that," Jay said as she joined the trio behind the truck, "and you're here to provide an extra set of hands. It's a lotta work to load up what we're taking back, and another person to do the lifting really helps."
"Slave labor, got it," Silas grinned as he said.
"It's only slave labor if you're not getting paid," Raven said, matching his amusement for the first time since the two had met, "and you're getting paid just a little bit less than us, so quit your crying and get a move on. The client's reps are supposed to be here soon."
Silas and the other Birds nodded, each of them splintering off to take care of the tasks they'd each been assigned. Silas, along with Raven, walked around the perimeter of the building, looking for any possible ambush points.
"That kind of thing happen a lot?" Silas asked, as he pointed out a door that would've been tucked away in a dark corner of the room.
Raven shrugged. "Not to us. Most people know not to screw with Penguin or his employees. If they do, well, you know what happens."
Silas chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I do. Knuckles were sore for a week after that guy."
"We'll work on that," Raven said, "Can't have you take three days off after every interrogation just to ice your hand down."
"I was told to take those days off!" Silas cried.
"Oh, I know. I heard Lark calling you. But, you're still gonna have to toughen up some if you're gonna last in this business. Fire escape."
Silas rolled his eyes. "I'll work on it. Another side door."
The two continued their patrol, making notes of any other points of entry they could spot. A few minutes after they began, the pair returned to the truck. As they arrived, Jay opened the passenger side of the truck and climbed partway in.
"Alright, now what?" Silas asked.
"We wait," Lark said from a box nearby, sitting casually on top of it.
"It shouldn't be too long," Jay added, exiting the truck. She shouldered the door closed, her hands occupied by a pair of steel briefcases, "We always come to these deals early so we can prep for anything. We usually don't have much trouble, but you never know. Especially if Joker's involved."
Silas nodded. "Yeah, Raven told me while we were doing the rounds. Should we be expecting problems for this one?"
"I doubt it," Raven said, "this supplier is pretty loyal. He doesn't wanna fuck this up, or else he'd risk losing Penguin's business."
The group then fell into a silence, waiting for the appointed time. Silas had slipped into the truck before long, not wanting to use a box as a seat. After a while, he felt himself starting to doze off. The hand of sleep had barely begun to grasp him when a knock came from the door. He snapped up, looking out the window to see Jay looking up at him.
"Let's go, Silas," she said, beckoning him on with a wave, "It's time. The client's reps are gonna be here any second now."
"Uh, yeah."
With that, Silas climbed out of the truck. He felt his nerves starting to shake a bit. Sure, he'd been dealing with thugs and punks for a while now, but this was a new ballpark, so to speak. He wasn't even sure what the deal here *was*.
'I mean, sure, I've got an idea, but that doesn't mean I'm right.'
Four heads snapped to the sound of one of the warehouse's side doors opening, the hinges screeching horribly. A group of men, about five strong from what Silas could see, filed into the warehouse, taking little time to spot the Birds and the teen. The group moved closer to him, with two of the men carrying a case between them.
Silas took a quick breath at the sight of the case.
'Seen enough movies to know what that's got in it.'
One man walked ahead of the others, hands in his coat pockets.
'Gotta be the leader here.'
Once he was close enough, the "Leader" spoke up.
"Ladies," he said with a friendly-enough tone. He looked to each of the Birds, giving them a greeting nod as he did. His eyes fell on Silas last, and the teen could see him raise an eyebrow at the sight of him, "One of you have a babysitting job you couldn't get out of?"
Silas frowned at him, leaning forward as he did. Before he could fire back, though, Raven spoke up.
"Don't mind him," she said, drawing the man's attention to herself, "He's here to make sure things don't get messy."
"You expecting problems?" the man asked.
"Not any more than you are," Lark answered, "And I know you aren't expecting any, so let's go ahead and take care of business, yeah?"
The man nodded, and with a wave, beckoned the men with the heavy case forward. The duo dropped the case on to a pallet nearby, drawing everyone in the room toward it. The leader of the group popped the latches of the case open, swinging the case lid open and giving the Penguin Crew a look in side.
'Thoguht so,' Silas thought as he looked in the case, seeing the weapons inside, 'Those look pretty nice, actually.'
He didn't catch the details of the firearms inside the case, though he could see that there were four assault rifles inside the case. He watched as Lark reached in, taking hold of one and bringing it out. She scanned the rifle, checking it over. For what, Silas wasn't sure, though he figured one of them might tell him what exactly they were looking for at some point down the line.
"What do you think, Ray?" she asked as she handed the rifle over to Raven, "I think it looks good."
Raven took the rifle, looking it over herself. Unlike Lark, who'd only gone over it with a quick glance, Silas noticed that Raven's inspection was more in-depth. She looked over various parts of the weapon, taking care to look over as much as she could. He heard various clicks come from the gun as Raven checked it, watching her work with interest. Once she'd finished looking over the various parts of the gun, she held it up, looking down the weapon as if she were preparing to fire it. After a second, she brought the gun down with a grin on her face.
"Looks good to me," she said, as she returned the weapon to the case, "you got everything?"
The leader of the group of men nodded. "Five cases, ten rifles each. Fifty rifles, and enough ammo to keep them going for a long time. What about you? You got the money?"
"Yep," Jay said, retrieving the briefcases Lark had set down before. She set the cases on the same pallet that the gun case sat on, opening them up and revealing the contents inside.
Silas could feel his eyes going wide at the sight. He counted about twenty bundles of hundred-dollar bills just at the top of each case. 'Holy shit! That's a lot of money!'
"Hundred thousand," Jay said as she spun the cases around, "Plus another hundred thousand for the ammo."
The man took one of the bundles out, flipping through the bills. He nodded one he had finished, appearing satisfied.
"Alright then," he said. He turned to his crew, motioning to them with one hand, "We have a deal. The boys'll bring in the rest for you. Pleasure doing business with you, as always."
"Same here," Raven said as the man turned and walked away. The quartet watched as four more cases were hefted in, all set next to the one brought in first. Silas' mind raced as he looked the cases over.
'How much are these gonna sell for? Hundred grand for all of these? He's gotta be selling these for a shitton!"
Once all the cases, plus a few more containing the ammunition, were brought in, Silas kept an eye on the men as they left, making sure none of them were thinking of starting anything. He didn't relax until the last man was out the door, shutting it behind him.
"Alright," Jay said, "Let's get these things in the truck. Two of us out here to load them in, two of us in there to get them set. Sound good?"
"Yeah," Lark said, with Raven nodding. Silas nodded as well. "You and me on the inside, Jay. Ray, you and Silas mind loading them up?"
"Not if the kid doesn't have a problem with it." Raven said.
"Works for me," Silas said. The four split up into their assigned groups and got to work. Between the four of them, the work didn't take too long to complete, though Silas felt his arms burning by the end of the task. He and Raven made quick work of carrying the cases to the truck, while Lark and Jay arranged everything so that it could be safely transported.
"Alright," Raven said, "two of us need to stay back here, just to make sure nothing gets screwed up back here. Something happens to any of that, it's all our asses."
Nobody said a word, all of them nodding in agreement. Silas reached for one of the handles, getting ready to pull himself into the back of the truck. As soon as he did, he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. He looked over at Raven, the only person still outside of the vehicle.
"Hey," she said, thumbing toward the cab, "Up front. Think you've earned it, lifting all of that heavy shit."
"Oh, uh, thanks," he said, surprised. He took a step around the side of the truck, and heard as one of the Birds on the inside slid the door shut. He followed Raven to the front of the truck, running around to the passenger side and climbing in. Raven started the truck's engine and, as Silas settled into his seat, pulled away. He looked out the window, watching as buildings passed by while they made their way to the next stop. He didn't think about how sore his arms were. He didn't think about the fact that he would have to help unload the haul when they got to where they were going.
Instead, a different kind of thought crept into his mind.
'That's a goldmine back there…'
